Book excerpt: ― Human Rights ― Equality ― Free Speech ― Privacy ― The Rule of Law These five ideas are vitally important to the way of life we enjoy today. The battle to establish them in law was long and difficult, and Anthony Lester was at the heart of the thirty-year campaign that resulted in the Human Rights Act, as well as the struggle for race and gender equality that culminated in the Equality Act of 2010. Today, however, our society is at risk of becoming less equal. From Snowden’s revelations about the power and reach of our own intelligence agencies to the treatment of British Muslims, our civil liberties are under threat as never before. The internet leaves our privacy in jeopardy in myriad ways, our efforts to combat extremism curtail free speech, and cuts to legal aid and interference with access to justice endanger the rule of law. A fierce argument for why we must act now to ensure the survival of the ideals that enable us to live freely, Five Ideas to Fight For is a revealing account of what we need to protect our hard-won rights and freedoms.